T
The_Shadow
Is it possible to change the default line color from blue to black and the default thickness from 3.5 to 0.75 in Word 2008?
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D
Daiya Mitchell
What default line are you talking about? How do you create it?
T
The_Shadow
In Word 2008 when you draw a line, the line color is blue and the thickness is 3.5; but in Word 2004 the line color was black and the thickness was 0.75. I want to have the line color set to black and the thickness set to 0.75 in Word 2008.
A
A Friend
Here's how to set that.
Everybody, listen up. If you don't know about this, you should probably pay attention to the following paragraph, which you may find important one of these days...
The trick is to remember that when you create a new, blank document, Word pulls the settings for that new document from the Normal template. So if you want to make changes "stick" for new documents, you need to make the changes for that setting in the Normal template (assuming you're not using some other template).
The other trick is that you need to open the Normal template itself, rather than creating a new blank (untitled) document.
Here's how:
1. Launch Word
2. In Word, click File > Open, then navigate down to the Normal template, which is named "Normal.dotm" and is located here:
Users / [UserName] / Library / Application Support / Microsoft / Office / User Templates / Normal.dotm
Note; Be sure you open this template by using Word's menus; do not simply double-click on the template in the Mac OS Finder (that won't open the template itself, it will open a new blank document based on the template, and your changes won't stick).
A "blank" document should open. Be sure that the document title says "Normal.dotm", not "Untitled".
3. In the Normal.dotm template, click View > Toolbars > Drawing.
4. On the Drawing Toolbar, click the Lines button, then click the Line tool (first icon on the fly-out).
5. In the document, click and drag to draw a line. It doesn't matter what the line looks like.
6. With the line still selected, click Format > AutoShape
7. In the Format AutoShape dialog, make any changes you want. In the case of your specific question (you want to make the default line Black and .75 pt), on the Colors and Lines tab, under Line, change the Color to Black and the Weight to .75. Click OK.
8. Back in your document, right-click (or Ctrl+click) the line you just drew and on the contextual menu that pops up, click Set AutoShape Defaults.
9. Delete the line you just drew. Yes, delete it...it has served its purpose (which was to allow you to tweak the settings), and if you don't delete the line, every new document you create will have that line in it.
10. Click File > Save to save the Normal.dotm template.
11. Close the Normal.dotm template.
Now, every time you create a new, blank document, the default line should have the properties you just set.
Hope that helps.
Everybody, listen up. If you don't know about this, you should probably pay attention to the following paragraph, which you may find important one of these days...
The trick is to remember that when you create a new, blank document, Word pulls the settings for that new document from the Normal template. So if you want to make changes "stick" for new documents, you need to make the changes for that setting in the Normal template (assuming you're not using some other template).
The other trick is that you need to open the Normal template itself, rather than creating a new blank (untitled) document.
Here's how:
1. Launch Word
2. In Word, click File > Open, then navigate down to the Normal template, which is named "Normal.dotm" and is located here:
Users / [UserName] / Library / Application Support / Microsoft / Office / User Templates / Normal.dotm
Note; Be sure you open this template by using Word's menus; do not simply double-click on the template in the Mac OS Finder (that won't open the template itself, it will open a new blank document based on the template, and your changes won't stick).
A "blank" document should open. Be sure that the document title says "Normal.dotm", not "Untitled".
3. In the Normal.dotm template, click View > Toolbars > Drawing.
4. On the Drawing Toolbar, click the Lines button, then click the Line tool (first icon on the fly-out).
5. In the document, click and drag to draw a line. It doesn't matter what the line looks like.
6. With the line still selected, click Format > AutoShape
7. In the Format AutoShape dialog, make any changes you want. In the case of your specific question (you want to make the default line Black and .75 pt), on the Colors and Lines tab, under Line, change the Color to Black and the Weight to .75. Click OK.
8. Back in your document, right-click (or Ctrl+click) the line you just drew and on the contextual menu that pops up, click Set AutoShape Defaults.
9. Delete the line you just drew. Yes, delete it...it has served its purpose (which was to allow you to tweak the settings), and if you don't delete the line, every new document you create will have that line in it.
10. Click File > Save to save the Normal.dotm template.
11. Close the Normal.dotm template.
Now, every time you create a new, blank document, the default line should have the properties you just set.
Hope that helps.
J
June Low [MSFT]
"A Friend" posted the solution for globally setting the default line you
want via the Normal template.
You can also set it on a per-document basis by modifying the line to be
whatever settings you wish it to have, then right-clicking and selecting
"Set AutoShape Defaults"
--
June
OfficeArt Tester, MacBU
Microsoft
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
want via the Normal template.
You can also set it on a per-document basis by modifying the line to be
whatever settings you wish it to have, then right-clicking and selecting
"Set AutoShape Defaults"
In Word 2008 when you draw a line, the line color is blue and the thickness is
3.5; but in Word 2004 the line color was black and the thickness was 0.75. I
want to have the line color set to black and the thickness set to 0.75 in Word
2008.
--
June
OfficeArt Tester, MacBU
Microsoft
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
T
The_Shadow
HiHi “A Friend”
Thank you for your post, I am sorry that I haven’t replied to you earlier to thank you. Your solution did fix the problem, but something really odd is happening. After I go through the steps, I save the Normal.dotm document and then I close out of it (while the application Microsoft Word 2008 is still open), and when I make lines it does stay at black with a thickness of 0.75; but when I quit Word 2008 and I reopen Word 2008 and I try to make lines the color stays on black (instead of blue), but the line thickness inverts back to 3.5, even though I set it to 0.75. I got info on the Normal.dotm file and I do have read and write access rights to it. Is there something I am doing wrong.
Thank you for your post, I am sorry that I haven’t replied to you earlier to thank you. Your solution did fix the problem, but something really odd is happening. After I go through the steps, I save the Normal.dotm document and then I close out of it (while the application Microsoft Word 2008 is still open), and when I make lines it does stay at black with a thickness of 0.75; but when I quit Word 2008 and I reopen Word 2008 and I try to make lines the color stays on black (instead of blue), but the line thickness inverts back to 3.5, even though I set it to 0.75. I got info on the Normal.dotm file and I do have read and write access rights to it. Is there something I am doing wrong.
A
A Friend
Shadow,
Hmm. That seems odd, it shouldn't behave like that. I would suggest you try the following:
1. Quit out of Word.
2. Then in the Finder, drill down into Users / [UserName] / Library / Application Support / Microsoft / Office / User Templates and delete the Normal.dotm template.
You might want to do a search to make sure you get the right one (in case you somehow have multiple copies and Word is finding the other one..if you find any other copies, get rid of them).
3. Then launch Word and go through the steps listed in my previous post to set the default line settings. Be sure you set both color and thickness, and be sure you choose "Set AutoShape Default" from the contextual menu. Be sure you're making the changes in the Normal.dotm file and not an "Untitled" document, an be sure to save the changes after you set the defaults.
Then give it a try.
I can't think of any reason why the settings wouldn't stick (and the fact that one of the settings does stick and another does not is particularly strange).
(Of course, this all assumes that your new document is indeed based on the Normal template - that is, you're not explicitly using some *other* template....I assume you're just clicking File > New Blank Document...
If you're specifically asking for a document based on some other template, the steps above won't work...I think you know that, just trying to cover all bases.)
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Hmm. That seems odd, it shouldn't behave like that. I would suggest you try the following:
1. Quit out of Word.
2. Then in the Finder, drill down into Users / [UserName] / Library / Application Support / Microsoft / Office / User Templates and delete the Normal.dotm template.
You might want to do a search to make sure you get the right one (in case you somehow have multiple copies and Word is finding the other one..if you find any other copies, get rid of them).
3. Then launch Word and go through the steps listed in my previous post to set the default line settings. Be sure you set both color and thickness, and be sure you choose "Set AutoShape Default" from the contextual menu. Be sure you're making the changes in the Normal.dotm file and not an "Untitled" document, an be sure to save the changes after you set the defaults.
Then give it a try.
I can't think of any reason why the settings wouldn't stick (and the fact that one of the settings does stick and another does not is particularly strange).
(Of course, this all assumes that your new document is indeed based on the Normal template - that is, you're not explicitly using some *other* template....I assume you're just clicking File > New Blank Document...
If you're specifically asking for a document based on some other template, the steps above won't work...I think you know that, just trying to cover all bases.)
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
O
Office4MacAdvocate
Hello,
Thank you for you service thus far. I have attempted all of the steps on
this page, and I am having similar problem as as "Shadow" is having. When I
"Set the AutoShape Defaults" I have the line color set to black, the
thickness set to .75, and the layout set to "behind the text." I then save
the Normal template.
When I come back into office and open a "New Blank Document" from the file
menu, the only setting that remains is the black color. The thickness goes
back to 3.5, and the layout goes back to "tight."
I guess the paradox remains open, and the quandary is the same: "Is it
possible to change the default line color and thickness in Word 2008?"
Please help me out with this issue. Thank you very much for your time and
consideration in this matter.
Thank you for you service thus far. I have attempted all of the steps on
this page, and I am having similar problem as as "Shadow" is having. When I
"Set the AutoShape Defaults" I have the line color set to black, the
thickness set to .75, and the layout set to "behind the text." I then save
the Normal template.
When I come back into office and open a "New Blank Document" from the file
menu, the only setting that remains is the black color. The thickness goes
back to 3.5, and the layout goes back to "tight."
I guess the paradox remains open, and the quandary is the same: "Is it
possible to change the default line color and thickness in Word 2008?"
Please help me out with this issue. Thank you very much for your time and
consideration in this matter.
J
John McGhie
No: It seems to be a bug.
The setting does not stick here either.
Or rather: the setting "sticks", but only in the local document.
If I set a red line and a 6 pt weight, and save the document, then quit and
re-open, new documents are back to blue and 3.5 pts.
If I re-open the saved document, it's line default is red and 6 pts.
Hope this helps.
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
The setting does not stick here either.
Or rather: the setting "sticks", but only in the local document.
If I set a red line and a 6 pt weight, and save the document, then quit and
re-open, new documents are back to blue and 3.5 pts.
If I re-open the saved document, it's line default is red and 6 pts.
Hope this helps.
Hello,
Thank you for you service thus far. I have attempted all of the steps on
this page, and I am having similar problem as as "Shadow" is having. When I
"Set the AutoShape Defaults" I have the line color set to black, the
thickness set to .75, and the layout set to "behind the text." I then save
the Normal template.
When I come back into office and open a "New Blank Document" from the file
menu, the only setting that remains is the black color. The thickness goes
back to 3.5, and the layout goes back to "tight."
I guess the paradox remains open, and the quandary is the same: "Is it
possible to change the default line color and thickness in Word 2008?"
Please help me out with this issue. Thank you very much for your time and
consideration in this matter.
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
M
Matt Centurión [MSFT]
Hi Office4MacAdvocate & The_Shadow,
The issue you are seeing is two-fold:
A) Z-order or Layering is not a default property that can be set. Thus
"behind the text" will not be kept as a default property.
B) The 0.75 pt default line issue only affects 0.75 pt lines. If you set the
default to 0.74 or 0.76 then it will work properly. We are investigating
the possibility of a fix. In the meantime see if a .74 or .76 line is a
satisfactory work-around.
Thanks,
Matt
MacOffice Testing
Microsoft
Date: 3/10/08 10:47 AM / From: "Office4MacAdvocate"
The issue you are seeing is two-fold:
A) Z-order or Layering is not a default property that can be set. Thus
"behind the text" will not be kept as a default property.
B) The 0.75 pt default line issue only affects 0.75 pt lines. If you set the
default to 0.74 or 0.76 then it will work properly. We are investigating
the possibility of a fix. In the meantime see if a .74 or .76 line is a
satisfactory work-around.
Thanks,
Matt
MacOffice Testing
Microsoft
Date: 3/10/08 10:47 AM / From: "Office4MacAdvocate"
T
The_Shadow
IT WORKED!!! Thanks a million Matt!